(CIVIL WAR.) W. Brenton Boggs. A naval purser in California learns of the outbreak of war--and frets about his wife in Washington. Autograph Letter Signed "Brent" to his wife. 8 pages, 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches, on 2 folding sheets; folds, cross-writing on final page, thin paper but minimal wear. With manuscript transcript. USS Wyoming, off Mare Island, CA, 10 May 1861
William Brenton Boggs (1809-1875) was a career naval clerk and amateur artist who served as purser aboard the USS Wyoming. This letter reflects his unease upon learning that his wife was in a potential war zone 3,000 miles away. In part:
"The Pony Express has brought the astounding intelligence of a civil war raging throughout our once-happy land, & that the District is likely to become the scene of the principal & earliest contest; that a collision had taken place at Baltimore, & that Washington was filled with troops to repel southern invasion. If all this be true, you must be surrounded & unable to leave home. The railroads are torn up & bridges burned, the telegraph down & cars stopped. . . . You must depend upon the advice of friends about you. . . . Washington cannot be captured by any force the South can bring against it; yet the attempt may be made. . . . Our home will probably be in the direct line of fire between the Virginia shore & the heights."
The USS Wyoming was commanded by a southerner, John K. Mitchell. Shortly after Boggs sent this letter, Mitchell defied orders and took the ship to Panama. Mitchell was soon relieved of duty and the ship returned to Union service by July.
